The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-05-05
Furniture Made Of Brass.

When the popular taste began some
time ago to lean toward articles made
of brass, many persons laughed at
what they called a spaSm, and said it
could not last long; but if the trade
done in this line of goods is anything
to 90 by, the craze is increasing.
Popular taste, in fact, is running riot
in this regard. Fancy woodwork, so
popular a year or so ago, is practically
out of the market. Not only is this
metal used in the manufacture of bric-
a-brac and ornamental pieces, but in
many of the recently-built dwellings
it constitutes much of the practical
and substantial appointments.
For portiercs, mantle facings, and
stair castings polished brass has been
in common use for long time, but it
was not until recently that it took the
place of softer and less expensive ma
terials in the manufacture of panel
ings for doors, sills, baluster rails,
balconies, and the like.
Its use in the manufacture of house
hold articles has knocked a good
sized hole in the furniture business,
for portion of dwelling can to-day
be furnished in brass, from kitchen
poker up to child's swinging crib.
An article of this kinda brass bas-
sinet-covered by a canopy, costs $50.
A simple crib, however, can be bought
for $50. Single brass bedsteads are
worth SIS, while those of double size
range in price from $3S to 800.
Among the new designs in beds is
canopy which, while it extends only
over the pillows, is very handsome
piece of furniture. The head and
foot pieces are made in yariously
fashioned patterns, as also are the sup
ports to the canopy, which can be had
in damask, merinO, silk, or satin. In
a room where light is continually
burned they are practical and useful
as well as ornamental.
Brass cabinets forty and sixty
inches high, with four or five shelves,
are also being made. They cost from
$40 up. The top and stanchions are
of highly-polished metal, but the
shelves are made of solid mahogany.
Polished brass dressiug-cases, with
beveled glass mirrors, though pretty
and elegant, are very expensive. SO
are the brass chairs. To furnish a
reception room OF parlor with brass
chairs would be novel and dainty, but
at $40 each most people would have to
be content with one or two. To the
designs, patterns, and shapes of the
various articles made of this metal
there seems to be no end. The ap-
pearance of room is greatly en-
HANGED by brass easel, as is also the
looks of the picture to which it gives
| support.
The number of articles made of brass
runs up into the thousands already
and the end is not yet. Shaving
stands, wall pockets, fire screens, and
such things exist in countless varie-
ties. The most popular conceits are
the umbrella stand, usually made in
hammered goods, circular in form and
about Il foot in diameter; coal scut-
ties, used chiefly by people who have
open fire-places and CRATES, to stand
beside the fireplace; match boxes,
whisk broom holders, ash receivers,
and hall racks in polished oak with
brass mountings. Small thermome-
ters or clocks are sometimes set in the
head of a tennis racket. The latest
| card picture-holder is made of brass in
the semblance Of fiatirOn.
1t is in the appointing of a house,
however, that the craze is now mostly
seen, and builders and architects
generally are puZzling their brains
trying to find new places and new
uses to which they can put the metal,
and are thus coming nearer and
nearer to what is said will one day be
a house of brass. - Ne1O York EG-
press